17 May, 2006

Even in the glory days of French cycling, not everyone could afford a Singer or a Herse. So what was the French lunch-box-kind-of-guy to do when he wanted a randonneusse. One option was to get a Peugeot PX50, a production randonneur bike.

The photo shows a 1962 model. It's equipped with Nervar cranks, a 4-speed freewheel, Simplex Prestige derailleurs, Mafac cantis, Lyotard pedals, and those chubby 650B tires. It's just the thing for a rough French country road. The front rack is perfect for a handlebar bag and the rear would take small panniers. Also note the Cibie lighting system and the cool brake levers. The saddle is an Ideale 41. Replace that rear changer and you'd have a dependable and superbly capable all-arounder.I see that the first catalog to list this model is the 1953 edition. It seems to have disappeared sometime between 1963 and 1969. Apparently not many made it to North America, but they were sold in Japan. Here's a link to a Japanese catalog. The photo and information is taken from Cycles Retro Peugeot , a wonderful collection of Peugeot catalogs from 1929 to 1989.

Now look at the second photo. What the heck is that little lid on the down tube for?

11 comments:

Might that be a port to allow lubrication of the lower headset bearings without disassembling the h/s?

Were the racks originally that green color? I would be surprised if they weren't chromed originally.

It's a neat little bike for sure. The only thing is, aesthetically, the front racks that clip all the way down to the fork end aren't quite so attractive as the kind that attach to the brakes or fork blades, IMHO.

I realize this is a really old thread, but just wanted to post that the used bike shop I work at in Wilmington, DE (USA) got one of these in. Pretty beat up, but available if someone is interested in a project.